Where Did I Go Wrong?

 

A few years ago I was staying at the Sheraton on Scott Road in Singapore.  As I was working out in the gym I looked over at the building next door.  I never saw anything like this.  It was a 20+ story condo building with the cars parked in the apartments.  A large elevator lifted the cars up to the apartments and the occupant would park in the garage in the sky.  The kid working in the gym noticed I was looking at the building.  ""Can be yours for eight million dollars'" he said.  

As I walked around that neighborhood I passed so many condo buildings where all the condos were SGD$3 million or much higher.  What looked like thousands of units.

Then earlier this year I was in NYC for a few days.  It was warm and I walked far more than I usually do, and to some places I had never been.  Occasionally I opened Zillow and looked at the surrounding real estate prices.  US$2, 3, 4 and kept going up. Street after street after street of expensive real estate.  Again thousands of units.

To make it to the wealthiest 5% of people in the US you supposedly need $2.7 mil.  Even someone with $2.7 mil might not be able to afford a $2 mil condo and still have adequate wealth to fund retirement.

How are all of these people able to afford these expensive condos?  Millions of dollars plus monthly maintenance and taxes of often +$2000 or far higher every month?

Where did I go wrong?   Why am I not able to buy a $5 mil condo when it seems so many others can?

STOP!

Now time to think about gratitude.  I have a very comfortable life, better than most people.  I need to be thankful for that, and not compare to anyone else.  Even if I had the money I probably wouldn't stay at the Waldorf for $1100 per night.  I'm not really missing out.  Even so, I curious how so many people have this much wealth.